Navigating Shopify Redirect Chains: Is Your HTTP to HTTPS to Non-WWW Path Normal?

Hey there, fellow store owners! It’s your Shopify expert chiming in from the community trenches. I recently stumbled upon a really common, yet often confusing, question that pops up in our forums: redirect chains. Specifically, the one where your old http://www.yourstore.com URL takes a scenic route through https://www.yourstore.com before finally landing on your preferred https://yourstore.com. It’s a bit like taking two connecting flights when you really want a direct one, right?

A community member, pdintane, brought this up, noting that their domain’s correct URL structure is:

https://domain.com

But when you hit other permutations like:

https://www.domain.com, http://domain.com, or http://www.domain.com 

they all eventually redirect to the correct one. The specific redirect chain that caught their eye was:

http://www.domain.com (307) -> https://www.domain.com (301) -> https://domain.com (200)

Pdintane’s goal was to ideally collapse this into a single hop, like:

http://www.domain.com-> https://domain.com (200)

So, the big question was: Is this multi-redirect chain "normal" and unavoidable on Shopify, or can it be fixed in Shopify Domain settings or DNS?

The Community Verdict: Yes, It's Normal (and Mostly Fine!)

I’m here to tell you, based on the collective wisdom of our community experts like clickfromai and Maximus3, that yes, this redirect chain is completely normal for Shopify stores. And honestly, it’s largely a non-issue.

Both experts weighed in with clear explanations:

• http → https (The First Hop): This happens at Shopify’s "edge" (think of it as the first point of contact between a user and Shopify’s servers). It’s about upgrading an insecure HTTP connection to a secure HTTPS one. This is a fundamental security layer (TLS) that happens first.
• www → apex (The Second Hop): Once the connection is secure, Shopify then applies your primary domain redirect. If you’ve set your non-www (apex) domain as your primary, it will redirect from www.domain.com to domain.com. This is an application-level redirect, controlled by your Shopify settings.

As Maximus3 put it perfectly, "They are 2 separate layers (tls vs app), doing completely different things." You can't just collapse them into one neat redirect using standard DNS settings or Shopify’s infrastructure because DNS doesn't control URL redirects directly in this manner. It points to the server, but the server (Shopify, in this case) handles the actual URL redirection logic.

Clickfromai also highlighted that trying to remove this chain without putting a proxy or CDN in front of Shopify "adds complexity and usually is not worth it." For most store owners, that's just an unnecessary headache.

What About That 307 Redirect?

Pdintane specifically mentioned the 307 Temporary Redirect as "strange policy." While 307 redirects are often used for temporary moves, in some server configurations (especially with HTTP Strict Transport Security - HSTS - or internal proxying), they can appear as the initial HTTP to HTTPS hop. The important thing is that the subsequent redirect (301 Moved Permanently) signals to search engines that the move to the final HTTPS non-www domain is indeed permanent.

"But What About SEO?!" – Your Search Engine Ranking is Safe

This is often the biggest concern when people see redirect chains. Will Google penalize me? Will it slow down my site? The good news is, both community experts agree: this is a largely a non-issue for SEO.

Google is incredibly sophisticated when it comes to handling redirects. It understands these chains perfectly well. As Maximus3 reassuringly stated, "Google handles the redirect chains well, https://domain.com is what gets indexed." The key is that the final destination, your primary https://domain.com, is what Google focuses on and indexes.

While a very long redirect chain (think 4-5+ hops) can slightly impact crawl budget or page load speed, a two- or three-hop chain like this is generally negligible for both user experience and SEO.

Your Action Plan: How to Keep Things Smooth and SEO-Friendly

Even though the redirect chain is normal, there are definitely best practices you should follow to ensure your Shopify store is running as efficiently and SEO-friendly as possible. These steps were echoed by our experts:

1. Confirm Your Primary Domain in Shopify Settings:
   • Go to your Shopify admin.
   • Navigate to Settings > Domains.
   • Make sure your desired apex domain (e.g., yourstore.com, without the www) is set as your Primary domain.
2. Enable "Redirect All Traffic":
   • In the same Settings > Domains section, ensure that the option to "Redirect all traffic to the primary domain" is enabled. This tells Shopify to funnel all variations (like www and any other connected domains) to your chosen primary one.
3. Update All Internal Links and References:
   • This is CRUCIAL. The best way to avoid triggering these redirects is to ensure that you’re always linking to the correct, final URL in the first place.
   • Go through your:
     • Navigation menus: Update any custom links.
     • Theme code: If you've made custom edits, double-check hardcoded links.
     • Sitemap: Shopify usually handles this automatically, but it's good to be aware.
     • Ads: Make sure your ad campaigns point directly to https://yourstore.com.
     • Email links: Any links in your email marketing should use the final URL.
4. Check and Update External Backlinks You Control:
   • If you have control over external websites, blogs, or directories that link to your store, update any old http://www links to the correct https://yourstore.com format. This helps both users and search engines find your content directly.
5. Canonical Tags: Shopify automatically generates canonical tags for your pages, which tell search engines the preferred version of a URL when multiple versions exist. This helps consolidate "link equity" and prevents duplicate content issues. Just another reason why this redirect chain isn't an SEO headache!

By taking these proactive steps, you're essentially guiding users and search engines directly to your preferred URL, minimizing the need for redirects in the first place. The occasional redirect chain from an old link won't hurt, but consistent internal linking and external linking (where you have control) to your correct primary domain is the gold standard.

So, breathe easy! That redirect chain you're seeing is just Shopify doing its job to keep your store secure and consistent. It’s part of the platform’s infrastructure, and honestly, it’s one of those things that just works in the background without you needing to fuss over it too much. If you're looking to start your own online journey or migrate to a platform that handles these technicalities so you don't have to, Shopify is a fantastic choice for empowering merchants to focus on what they do best: selling amazing products.

Keep those questions coming, and I'll keep digging through the community for answers that help us all succeed!